AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A man claiming to have been mistaken for his twin fugitive brother could either be extradited back to Georgia or released from a Miami jail next week. The 63-year-old told authorities he is Jean Vernet Prado, not his twin Raul Eduardo Prado, The Augusta Chronicle reported. Raul Prado was serving a 25-year sentence for trafficking marijuana in 2007 until his escape May 7 from a work detail in Augusta, Georgia.

The man currently in custody was arrested the next day in Miami by a U.S. Marshal Regional Fugitive Task Force, but says he is not Raul Prado. The man’s attorney, Jonathan Meltz, recently filed an opposition to extradition and request for release. The motion states Jean Prado is “being held illegally without probable cause and in violation of his rights under both the Florida and U.S. Constitution.”

Meltz said that Jean Prado was using his brother’s identity because he doesn’t have his own papers here in the U.S. According to the motion, Jean and Raul Prado were both born in Havana, Cuba on April 18, 1955.

“If they prove his identity, then he will extradited back to Georgia. If they fail to prove that he is the fugitive, he should be released,” Meltz said.

Meltz said a hearing is scheduled next week. Evan Joseph, Richmond County Correctional Institution’s warden, told the Augusta Chronicle that Raul Prado was going to be up for parole in four years but now is expected to be sent to the Jackson Diagnostic Center, a maximum-security prison in Jackson, Georgia.
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Information from: The Augusta Chronicle , http://www.augustachronicle.com

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